Lee Ranaldo

Lee Ranaldo, one of the singers and guitarists in Sonic Youth, was born on February 3, 1957 in Glen Cove, Long Island, New York—also the birthplace of writer Thomas Pynchon, who, like Ranaldo, grew up in Oyster Bay, Long Island. According to Confusion Is Next: The Sonic Youth Story (1994 St. Martin’s Press), Ranaldo’s older cousin taught him open guitar tunings and his first chords when Lee was in his early teens. He attended Oyster Bay High, where he started playing guitar in cover bands. After high school, Ranaldo enrolled at SUNY Binghamton as an art student.